Celebrate St. Patrick's Day By Going Green In The Office

is celebrated on March 17^th to honor the patron saint of Ireland. It is a time for shamrocks, leprechauns, and corned beef and cabbage—and for thinking about going green in our Huntsville AL homes, and not only in our kitchens and bathrooms. While these are certainly high-impact areas that should be made more efficient, there's also much potential for going green in your home office. Check out these simple suggestions:

• Paper: Look for paper made with the highest amount of recycled content. When you can, print on both sides of the paper. If you need to shred documents, keep use those shreds when sending packages or even for storing fragile items such. To recycle paper on a regular basis, have a small recycling box under the desk in your Huntsville AL home office.
  


• Printer cartridges: Every year hundreds of millions of cartridges are used in this country--and 70 percent of those end up in landfills. However, cartridges are actually easily refilled and/or recycled, and you can also get paid to turn in used ones. There are a number of online sources that will supply a pre-paid shipping label to mail accepted cartridges in exchange for cash. Or you can turn in your used cartridges for recycling at some office supply stores and earn a credit for them.
  


• Power strips: Get a single power terminal that connects to all the ancillary gadgets that run with the computer in your Huntsville AL home office. This way the moment you are not using the computer, they can be turned off, too. Keeping the computer and its accessories on through the night consumes more than 30% of the total power consumption when in use.
  


• Computer hardware: In addition to being convenient, laptops are said to consume less than 1/8th the power of a regular desktop. With laptops now more affordable, it is advisable to switch to a laptop in your next purchase. Likewise, LCD and LED monitors use about half the energy compared to a traditional CRT monitor.
  


• Used manuals and electronics: Recycle unneeded computer manuals and "how-to" guides by donating them to local workforce development groups and charity organizations. This also applies to old laptops, printers, and other office equipment. And don't forget used batteries, cartridges, PDAs, and obsolete cell phones.